Sarah Goldberg, actress on TV series “7th Heaven” and in film roles, dies at 40

Sarah Goldberg, who appeared in the television series “7th Heaven” and the film “Jurassic Park III,” died Sept. 27 at her family’s cabin in Wisconsin. She was 40.

Her mother, Judy Goldberg, confirmed the death to the Chicago Sun-Times. She said a heart ailment is suspected, although an autopsy failed to determine the exact cause of death.

Ms. Goldberg’s entertainment career started as a bumblebee in a Chicago City Ballet production of “Cinderella,” her mother said, and gained momentum when she was asked to be an extra on the Julia Roberts movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997).

She got the role because her mother co-owned a company providing table linens for a set. A film staffer saw her helping arrange tablecloths and asked her to be in a scene, her mother said.

Ms. Goldberg went on to appear in television series including “90210,” “Judging Amy,” “The Beast” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Actress Sarah Goldberg in an undated photo. (AP)

In “7th Heaven,” which aired mostly on the WB network between 1996 and 2007, she played Jewish medical student Sarah Glass Camden who fell in love with the son of a Christian pastor.

“She wanted to go to medical school, and instead for three years she played a doctor on ‘7th Heaven,’ ” Judy Goldberg said of her daughter, who graduated in 1996 from Amherst College in Massachusetts with a degree in microbiology, according to her IMDB biography.

Ms. Goldberg also played a college student looking for drugs in the Denzel Washington movie “Training Day” (2001).

The actress was sometimes was credited under the stage name Sarah Danielle Madison.

Ms. Goldberg was born Sept. 6, 1974 in Springfield, Ill., where her father worked as a lawyer. She attended the Latin School of Chicago before going to Amherst. She practiced yoga and was a trick skiier.

“She could get on [skis] backwards and blow kisses to people and pretend she was a water skier,” her mother said.

Sarah Goldberg, an actress in the popular television series “7th Heaven,” died on Sept. 27 at her family’s cabin in Wisconsin. She was 40.

Her mother, Judy Goldberg, told The Chicago Sun-Times that an autopsy had failed to determine the exact cause of death but that a heart ailment is suspected.

Ms. Goldberg was frequently identified as Sarah Danielle Madison in film and television credits, as she was in “7th Heaven,” an issue-oriented family drama broadcast from 1996 to 2007 on the WB and then the CW networks.

Ms. Goldberg appeared in episodes from 2002 to 2006 playing Sarah Glass, a medical student and rabbi’s daughter who married the son of a Protestant pastor.

Among her other credits, Ms. Goldberg appeared in the movie “Jurassic Park III” (2001).

Her acting break came as an extra in the 1997 Julia Roberts movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” She got a role in that film after a crew member saw her arranging tablecloths on the set — her mother co-owned the company providing table linens for the film — and asked her to be in a scene.

She went on to appear on television in “90210,” “Judging Amy,” “The Beast,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and other series.

Sarah Danielle Goldberg was born on Sept. 10, 1974, in Springfield, Ill. She attended the Latin School of Chicago before going to Amherst College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. She lived in Santa Monica, Calif.

Besides her mother, she is survived by her father, Bill Goldberg, a lawyer; and a brother, Bradley.